hello 2013

here are some things i would like to do with you:

1. start each morning with yoga and fresh-pressed juice
2. (or gratitude and organic coffee at a minimum)
3. go to san francisco and see my girl
4. be mindful, meditate, increase awareness in each moment
5. be more tolerant of people who don't think and are really loud
6. launch type-ography workshops
7. spend more time in nature (hiking and exploring and just being awe-struck)
8. make clothes and jewelry
9. karma garden, part deux
10. art journal

good♥food

kind, clean and colorful.  that's how i want to live and eat.

i am increasingly unable to ignore the faint whisper that is reminding me to eat and live as i believe.  to eat clean and beautiful foods that make me sparkle on the inside and do not cause harm to my body or the animal kingdom.  to harmonize my mind and body in the practice of yoga on a regular basis.  over the last decade or more i have shut out this voice and lived in a way that is out of alignment with who i am. 

often i dive in to something head first once i open my heart and mind to it.  this impulsiveness results in a crash and burn and then a retreat to the same old habits.

i'm trying to move more slowly, consciously, deliberately into new and beautiful practices.  beginning with things i love and then softly stretching to allow space for more goodness.

can i tell you how much i love quinoa?  more specifically, can i tell you how much i love every single variety of my rainbow quinoa salad i've created since first trying it last summer?  quinoa nurishes me and provides such a stable foundation for vibrant add-ins. 

for this version i used rainbow quinoa, which is a mix of white, red and black quinoa.  isn't it gorgeous?  i couldn't wait to take its photo.  then i wanted to make out with it.

winter rainbow quinoa (all organic if you can)

1. cook one cup of quinoa
2. dress lightly with a splash of olive oil and the zest and juice of one lemon, orange or lime
3. finely chop a spectacular confetti of purple cabbage, carrots and unsweetened dried cranberries
4. mango! 
5. a few spoons of chia seeds
6. a few handfuls of toasted pepitas
7. cilantro

use what you love and make it beautiful.

i'm so excited about the juicing!  the green juice from last week is quickly becoming my daily go-to.  but remember the soft stretching?  this week, i allowed in some beet, which i have complained all the livelong day tastes like dirt.  i juiced one up with some carrot, cucumber and spinach.  it sure is pretty and only had the slightest tinge of dirt.  wait, let me reframe that:  it tasted of the earth.

i'm working on it.

in my twenties i was a vegetarian for over a year.  and by vegetarian, i mean i survived on bean and cheese burritos, pizza and french fries.   basically it was a lousy diet minus the meat.  there was nothing conscious or beautiful about it.  i haven't made the decision yet to go veg.  maybe there won't be a decision.  maybe it will just be an organic shift toward the kind, clean and colorful.

green day

i mentioned a few weeks ago that i would keep you updated on my progress since working with meg, my health coach.   things are so so good.   if, like me, you get stuck in your own resistance, talking and working with an objective guide may just be your ticket to radiance.  the advice and non-judgmental support is positively slaying me over here.  and by slaying, i mean opening, seeing, accepting, growing, writing and telling a new story while loving the story that came before.

one thing i struggle with is getting enough greens.  greens and other living oxygen-rich whole foods are the foundation of the physical part of this transformation.  out of all the luscious green food, i'm focusing on eating greens that i love, which are only a small part of the big green world out there.  i'm taking baby steps with spinach, arugula, romaine, avocado and cucumber.  sad but true, these are the only green foods i love to taste.   eventually i hope to open my heart just a wee bit to kale and (gasp!) broccoli. 

the simplest ways for me to get some daily green are salads or to whip up a batch of spinach pesto and eat a few spoonfuls with a cooked egg or on whole grain toast.  also i have launched my new radiant self on to the juicing bandwagon.  it's amazing how multiple handfuls of spinach leaves don't taste anything like spinach when pulverized with some grapefruit, cucumber, pear, mint and ginger.  it's liquid sunshine i tell you.  my skin, my tummy and my tastebuds are singing like a hallelujah choir lit up by brilliant sunshine streaming in through a giant kaleidoscope of a stained glass window.

i've lost weight too.  but here's the thing:  this matters to me but not that much.  i think i'm feeling vitality for the first time in my life.  this is what matters.  living a pure and energized organic life.  i'm not nearly there yet, but i can see the road ahead.  it's a beautiful shade of brilliant green.

green day juice
makes about 32 ounces
in the juicer (organic if you can):
one pear
one cucumber
one grapefruit
four or five handfuls of baby spinach
one inch ginger
one sprig mint